‘Disregarding mother language in education means disregarding the child’

* Photo: HDP

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Addressing a Parliamentary question to Minister of National Education Ziya Selçuk, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Ağrı MP Dilan Dirayet Taşdemir has raised concerns over the problems that have arisen in education in Turkey amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Dirayet Taşdemir has underlined that the majority of students living in Turkey's Kurdish-majority eastern and southeastern provinces cannot access distance education due to economic conditions.

"The major problem faced by these students is that they cannot get education in their mother language," she has added.

"It is recognized that just as one of the most fundamental human rights of an individual is to receive education in her or his mother language, preventing an individual from being educated in his or her mother language is one of the gravest violations of human rights.

"Studies show that the languages not used as language of instruction at schools are subjected to a natural assimilation by developing technology and modernism. The historical and cultural accumulation of a society is passed on to next generations through their mother languages. Disregarding the mother language in education means disregarding the child."

'Will you eliminate the obstacles?'

Against this background, HDP MP Taşdemir has asked a series of questions to the Minister of Education, including the following:

* What is the motive behind the fact that individuals cannot get education in their mother languages in Turkey?

* Will you work to eliminate the de facto and de jure obstacles standing in the way of individuals to receive education in their own mother languages in the new school year?

* How many teachers of Kurdish have been appointed in 2020?

* How many students were able to receive education in Kurdish in the 2019-2020 school year and in which provinces? What are the fields of specialization of the teachers who teach Kurdish in schools?

* Are there any reports prepared by your Ministry regarding the results of education in the mother language?

* In how many secondary schools affiliated with your Ministry were lessons of Living Languages and Dialects opened from 2012 to 2020? What is their distribution by provinces?

* Does your Ministry have any studies to identify the pedagogical and psychological problems suffered by the children who cannot get education in their mother languages? If not, are you thinking of conducting such a study?

* What efforts do you make to eliminate the aggrievement of the students who cannot have the means to receive distance education due to the pandemic?

* In which provinces has there been a failure to achieve the intended result in distance education during the pandemic? What are the main problems?

* What is the reason behind the insistence on readopting face-to-face education on September 21 even though the number of cases is gradually increasing in Turkey and experts warn that the numbers will increase further in September-October? (RT/SD)